In a huge surprise move, the US Federal Reserve is now officially tracking & indexing cryptocurrencies!

The St.Louis branch of the Federal Reserve announced they are officially indexing cryptocurrencies - using the publicly available charting data provided by Coinbase. Their index will include Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum and Litecoin.

There is some history showing various people from the Federal Reserve were keeping a close eye on the cryptocurrency world for some time - however the move today says they see it as an economic factor worth more than just casually monitoring - they're now keeping records on cryptocurrency value data like they do currencies of foreign nations and commodities.

Lael Brainard from the U.S. Federal Reserve's Board of Governors spoke on the topic of cryptocurrency just a couple months ago here in San Francisco, saying:

"Because of the transformative potential of digital currency and distributed ledger technologies, the Federal Reserve is actively monitoring digital innovations in the financial system. We have been keenly evaluating developments in fintech and digital currencies through a multidisciplinary lens, combining information technology and policy analysis to study their potential implications for payments policy, supervision and regulation, financial stability, monetary policy, and the provision of financial services. This work draws from expertise throughout the Federal Reserve System and benefits from engagement with our colleagues internationally."

Even as far back as 2014, David Andolfatto who was Vice President of the St. Louis Federal Reserve at the time, hosted a learning seminar on the topic where he made the bold statement that cryptocurrency and blockchain tech "will force traditional institutions to adapt, or die.”
It's important to think about the private discussions behind the scenes that lead up to a move like this, it’s a sign the Federal Reserve's leadership are in agreement that cryptocurrency is here to stay. This wouldn't be worth doing if they thought otherwise.